April 20, 2018 | Workers' compensation

Written by: Justin High

This is the final post in this three-part series, where we discuss some of the more common, yet most confusing, acronym used in workers’ compensation law.

(Part 1 can be read HERE, followed by part 2 HERE on this blog).

MMI – Maximum Medical Improvement. You hear this one a lot both in the law and in medicine. The legal definition of Maximum Medical Improvement is “the point at which the injury has become stable and not likely to improve.” In layman’s terms, MMI means that there are no new procedures, treatments, therapies, medications, etc. that are going to provide a significant increase in the patient’s functioning or decrease in the patient’s pain. Simply stated, MMI is the point when the treating physicians are out of ideas and don’t have anything new they want to try. This doesn’t mean the injured worker is no longer entitled to any medical care at all. Some of the time, the employers and insurers will tell an injured worker that “MMI means no more treatment.” It doesn’t. The injured worker is still entitled to any reasonable and necessary treatment the treating physician orders including prescriptions, physical therapy, prosthetics, etc.

AWW – Average Weekly Wage. The AWW is supposed to represent the average earnings of an injured worker. In the majority of cases, we calculate this by taking the average of the twenty-six weeks of preinjury earnings. If there are abnormally low weeks that are not representative of the injured workers’ average income, we remove those from the calculation. This number is very important, because it determines the amount of weekly benefits and it impacts the LOE calculation and entitlement to Vocational Rehabilitation benefits.

BR – Benefit Rate. This is 2/3rds of the Average Weekly Wage and represents the amount of money an injured worker will be paid per week of disability.

Voc. Rehab. – Vocational Rehabilitation. One of the primary goals of the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act is to return an injured worker to suitable and gainful employment. If an injured worker has permanent impairment or permanent restrictions that preclude he or she from returning to a job that pays at or near the injured workers’ Average Weekly Wage, then the injured worker is likely entitled to a Vocational Rehabilitation program. Sometimes this includes job placement services and sometimes it includes a retraining program where the injured worker returns to school to learn new skills. The Vocational Rehabilitation assessment and program are determined by a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor.

VR42B – This is a form authored by the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court that requests the appointment of a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor to perform a Loss of Earning Capacity assessment, a Vocational Rehabilitation assessment, or both if both are necessary.

Hopefully, this series will help you understand your case to a greater extent than you did before. As always, if you have any questions about your claim or want to have some questions answered by an attorney, feel free to give us a call or set up a free consultation.

About the author: Justin High

Justin High has been trying cases for over ten years. He has handled hundreds of cases in State and Federal Courts in Nebraska and Iowa. Justin has argued and won a variety of cases in the Nebraska Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. Outside the courtroom, Justin has presented at dozens of seminars educating clients and other attorneys on subjects like Electronic Discovery, Workers’ Compensation, and Personal Injury.

Worker’s Comp attorney in Omaha – How to contact the High & Younes Law Firm

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